Ferrocene‐Based Small Molecules for Multichannel Molecular Recognition of Cations and Anions

This manuscript provides a summary of the relatively large body of research on the preparation and sensing properties of ferrocenes containing nitrogen functionalities, which have been mainly developed by our research group. After a general overview of the topic, selected recent advances in this field are described. In particular, new acyclic and cyclic structural motifs, in which the ferrocene unit is linked by unsaturated aza bridges (azadiene, azine, urea, guanidine, azaheterocycles) to a chromogenic or fluorescent signalling unit. Attention is drawn to the electrochemical and optical properties of these aza‐substituted ferrocene derivatives as well as their use in multichannel molecular recognition processes towards metal cations and anions.(© Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2008)